Inexpensive Wall Words

I love verses and sayings on walls but they are expensive (anything over $20 is expensive to me) and we are on a tight budget! However I believe that you can still have a beautiful home without spending much!

Here is an inexpensive solution, my mother-in-law gave me this and she found it at the Dollar Tree! So this beautiful look cost $1!! You just can't beat that & it looks like it cost much more!

The downside, these are individual letter stickers and I spent a good hour working on it and it still isn't straight but I think it looks fine & I was tired of moving those stickers around!!

What $100 can buy!

I am a saver! I always have been, as a teenager I saved most of my babysitting money (some of which was used as a down payment on our home!) I have a cash stash from birthday money, Christmas money, & graduation! So, I decided that I was going to spend some to purchase decor for our home and boots! I took $100 cash to town and this is what I came home with!

Fabric (12 yards)....$25.12
Curtain rods....$13.98
Ring clips....$11.98

Once Upon a Wall Letters....$10.20

Solid pink fabric for new baby quilt....$2.81

Black boots....$9.97

Brown boots....$9.97

Purple shirt....$4.97

Grand total: $89 (not including tax) Not too bad for everything I got!!

Here is full price for everything:

Curtain fabric (12 yards) $35.88
Curtain rods $24.00
2 packs Ring Clips $11.98
Pink Fabric $2.81
Once Upon a Wall letters $29.99
Black Boots $100.00
Brown Boots $100.00
Purple Shirt $22.00

Total full price :$326.66

So I "saved" $237.66 which is an almost 72% savings! WOW!!

My total spending was $97.23 with taxes so I still have $2.77 left from my $100! I just love bargain shopping!!

Lots of Little Things

Today has been a day of getting "miscellaneous" things accomplished and I have done pretty good thus far! I started my morning washing sheets, ironing, and cleaning all 3 bathrooms...it takes much longer to scrub 3 toilets, 3 sinks, 2 tubs, and mop 3 bathroom floors than it does just one! I made a checklist of things to take camping this weekend and have all the camping gear together in the living room (behind the couch so the living room doesn't look too messy!)

I finally did something I have been meaning to do for awhile now, I organized my "Inspiration Book". Over the past year I have been collecting ideas from magazines and pictures of things I like so when we buy/build a house I will have a reference to look to for the things that I like! I just had all of the pages and pictures stuffed in a folder so I sat down and made dividers and labeled each of the categories and filed away the pictures and articles that go under each one!! My categories are: Kitchen, Bathroom, Dining Room, Master Bedroom, Guest Bedroom, Organization, Kids (yes kids, even though it will be about 5 more years I still have my ideas!), Outdoor Room, Garden, and Crafts & Cute Ideas. I think this will really help me and it is organized and takes up much less space than magazines do!

I also spent some time looking at my new Sunday School Curriculum. I will be teaching the Older 3's Sunday School Class beginning August 3rd! I am excited about this..I worked with Younger 3's at Bible School and I am really looking forward to this! 3-year-olds are great!

What I did today!

Today has been a pretty productive day! We woke up early and had breakfast and then I studied!

Around 1:30 our new mattress was delivered for our guest room! I was so excited! After it arrived I realized that I hadn't bought a bed skirt for the bed and it needed one! Luckily I was able to improvise and I took a queen size yellow gingham flat sheet, ironed it and it makes a lovely bed skirt! I am really glad it didn't cost anything too! It seems like we just keep spending money for things that we need to make our apartment our home and I was getting tired of spending!



The guest bed!



My cute little night stand. A wicker hamper I found at Goodwill.



The curtain I made for the guest room!

The guest room! Just in time for guests! John David's sister, Jill, arrived tonight to visit so the room was ready for her! Of course since we have the guest room we now need more guests!

I have been looking for a cream shower curtain for the guest bathroom also and last night I found one at Goodwill for $2.99! To say the least I was very excited because it was a simple, cream shower curtain in great condition for a great price! I didn't have any shower curtain hooks for it so I made my own with ribbons! I do think it turned out very cute and gives it a little color!



A close up of the ribbons!



Guest towels!



The guest bath!



My little bookshelf that my mom and I made. It is now in my hall upstairs! It is kid friendly with Little House on the Prairie books, Little Golden Books, and even a toy tractor!

Today was also the first day I have actually been able to enjoy my new home and feel domestic! I made homemade Pimento Cheese Spread, Oatmeal No-Bake Cookies, and Spinach Chicken Alfredo Pizza for supper! The pizza turned out beautiful! John David even took a few pictures!



Yummy!



A close up of the pizza!

I am also working on a pumpkin roll also, I just have to finish the filling! And all these yummy desserts are not just for us, the state FFA officers are coming here tomorrow to film the first episode of this season's FFA Today. Since I am having guests I have to have yummy snacks available!

Home Sweet Home

Well we are just about settled in!! I am finally able to relax in my new home! We have made a lot of progress in a few short days! I finally realized that moving is not as overwhelming as I thought it was...we have been here two weeks and about 8 of those days we were out of town so we were really able to get a lot done in a short amount of time. This gives me encouragement for the next move which is inevitable within the next year!

Here are some pictures of our new home and some of the decorating that I have done!!



Our entry! We had to have curtains to cover up our small side windows and we couldn't find the "real" ones anywhere so I improvised! I took one panel (that I bought at Ross for $2.50!) cut it in two and made two small curtains to cover up the windows! The swag is made from fabric from my curtains I made and blue ribbon!



My new living room!



Another view of the living room! The pillows on the couch match my new curtains!



A close up of the curtains!





I made these curtains last night! It took me about 3 hours from start to finish to make them! I bought all the fabric at WalMart the other day for under $20! I had 3 yards of cream and 5 1/2 yards of print and I used every last bit of it!



My new bookcase from John David's mom, since my living room is bigger I can have a bigger bookcase now! (The picture doesn't look great because the sun was so bright!) The tray on the first shelf says "Bless This Home", my mom bought that for me the Christmas before I was married. The picture and glasses on the second shelf were a wedding gift, they have bluebirds hand painted on them! I didn't have anywhere to put them in Cookeville but now I have a place and yes they will be used sometimes! (I can picture me on a porch in a rocking chair drinking fresh squeezed lemonade from my beautiful glasses!)



My stairs and entry table! I finally have both of our wedding portraits on the wall! I found those beautiful frames at Goodwill for $3 each!!



My sewing area! My great great grandmothers singer sewing machine desk, my great grandmothers sewing machine, and my beautiful chair I found at Goodwill for $20!



My kitchen!



The rest of the kitchen!



My pot rack that helps keep me organized!

That is all the pictures for now! I only lack completing the guest bedroom (I can't finish it until we buy a mattress!) Thankfully, every box is unpacked and the only things in the guest bedroom are the items that are going to be used to decorate with! John David is almost finished with his studio! I finally figured out why it has taken him so long....it is the most distracting room in the whole house! It has his computer in there! If all the rooms I were working on had a computer in them it certainly would have taken me much longer!!

Our new home!

Well we have finally emptied all of the boxes...I think we only have 2 or 3 still lying around with a few items! We have worked this entire week trying to unpack and get things where we want them. We are now down to the little stuff...the things you don't need everyday but may need someday and don't know where to put which is a struggle to find out what to do with...I don't want to just shove it in a little box! We still have a little more work to do before everything is just how I want it but I wanted to share a few pictures of the things we have been doing so far!


My new eat-in kitchen/dining room!!


A few of my favorite things! The star is a candle holder which at the moment is still lacking a candle...it is on my list of things to buy!!


I finally have my own washer and dryer...it's gonna be great..I feel so spoiled!!


Our half bath downstairs.


My entry "table"



Our bedroom, I am so excited to have our mirror back with our dresser...it wouldn't work in Cookeville since our dresser was in front of the window!


My girly stuff and my curtains that finally have a real curtain rod!!


Our bed..the boots are still there, it just wouldn't seem right if they weren't!



My linen closet...how exciting!

Those are just a few pictures of what we have been doing! We hope to have everything completely done by next week! We still have boxes waiting to be recycled & given to Adam and Katie Tipton for their new home, John David's studio isn't quite ready for production, and the guest bedroom is missing a bed and still contains pictures that still need to be hung! I wouldn't have believed this time last week that we would have so much done already but thankfully we do and I can see the end in sight of the settling in!!